Ontario just passed a legislation that gives equal parenting rights to all parents regardless of whether they come from an LGBTQ family, are straight, whether their children were conceived naturally or artificially.

According to the press release, the law will come into effect on January 1st 2017. The All Families Are Equal Act will

Provide greater clarity and certainty for parents who use assisted reproduction to conceive a child

Provide a streamlined process for the legal recognition of parents who use a surrogate, together with requirements meant to protect the rights of all parties through independent legal advice and confirmation of the surrogate’s consent both before conception and after birth

Reduce the need for parents who use assisted reproduction to have to go to court to have their parental status recognized in law

The global parenting scene is gradually becoming more open to unconventional parenting and breaking the mold from the previously though notion that only opposite sex parents can have legal rights over a child.

Some countries, however, are still lagging behind on equal rights for LGBT individuals. For instance, child custody laws in Thailand do not apply to same sex couples, because under Thai law, same-sex marriages are still not recognized.

A woman in Kuwait has lost custody of her children because she was accused of spending hours outside her home smoking.

According to Thomson Reuters, the Family Court claimed that the smoking was affecting her health and social standing thereby making her unfit to raise her children and to look after them. The court also claimed that the prolonged smoking would affect the mother’s ability to provide her children a proper education.

Experts argue that women should also sue for custody from their husbands if their husbands smoke too much while adding that a woman has yet to raise the issue as reason for a father’s negligence.

The first child custody ruling based on smoking as proof of incompetence was seen in Saudi Arabia. A legal official is quoted by Reuters as saying that “A parent could now lose the custody case if he or she is proven to be a smoker.”

Current law gave mothers custody of the children if an agreement is not reached between the parents

An Israeli child custody law is being amended to give fathers legal parity with mothers in cases concerning custody of young children reports Haaretz.

According to Haaretz, “The bill would grant joint custody to both parents for all children, regardless of age, if the parents cannot reach an agreement between themselves.” Under the present law, a disagreement between the parents will result in the mother getting sole custody of the children.

The bill is said to be brought to vote on Monday. The age at which children would automatically be placed in joint custody is yet to set.

The so-called “parents and children bill” was proposed by Knesset Member (MK) Yoav Kisch (Likud) who felt that the current law created “an absurd situation in which the legal system does not consider the interests of children of separated parents” according to a report by Jerusalem Post.

In most countries, child custody battles usually favor mothers to fathers. In Thailand child custody law, women are normally favored as caregivers. However, fathers can also win custody of their children if the mother is proved an unfit parent.

Mississippi woman denied custody rights over a child because of her gender

Christina Strickland divorced her wife in 2013. She was refused custody of her youngest child, a 5 year old boy because of her gender reports Wapt News.

According to the report, Judge John S. Grant III said that two women cannot make children and so their youngest child, who was conceived with the help of a sperm donor “has got a natural father somewhere”.

In the case of divorce or separation, child custody lawyers in Thailand have experience in handling both domestic as well as international custody battles in Thailand

The Judge granted the woman visitation rights of the children, a 16 year old and 5 year old. She could not apply for joint custody of the 16 year old because there was no legal option to.

Queensland Parliament passed a legislation that would allow same sex couples, singles and people undergoing fertility treatment to adopt.

Despite opposition of clauses that expanded eligibility criteria to singles and same sex couples by two MPs, the legislation was supported by independents Rob Pyne and Billy Gordon and was passed overnight. Communities

Minister Shannon Fentiman said according to Brisbane Times, “It is time for Queensland to join other Australian states and territories to remove this discrimination from our adoption laws-For too long Queensland’s LGBTI community has been barred from even considering meeting the needs of a child through adoption as an option.”

Queensland is joining states other than South Australia and Northern territories in allowing same-sex adoption.

In Thailand, same-sex marriages are not recognized by Thailand law and Thai- adoption law requires that the couple looking to adopt must be married. There have been talks to legalize same-sex marriages, but for far nothing has come to fruition.

Germany is proposing to fine imams found officiating marriages of people under the age of 16 reports RT. Imams will be charged of fines up to $1100.

The German Interior Ministry is also looking to ban child marriages. Under existing law, the legal marrying age is 18 but 16 year olds can also obtain marriage licenses under special request provided the person they’re marrying is 18 years and above.

Justice Minister, Heiko Maas is hesitant on the issue and believes that the law should be dependent on individual cases. He also said that for refugees, not all child marriages should be automatically annulled because there could be reasons for exception based on child welfare.

Many politicians and human rights’ activists oppose Maas’ stand. Stephan Harbarth, the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faction in the German parliament, told Die Welt, a German news outlet, “It is high time we introduced a clear ban on child marriages-there should be no child marriages in Germany as well as no legal ‘grey zone’ for them.

He added, “We need a clear age limit of 18 years for marriage in Germany. A child’s welfare should always prevail over protection of marriage,”and insisted that it is not in any child’s interests to stay married to a 30 year old spouse.”

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